"My grandsons, stop work; rest awhile; come and tell me what you are
doing. Come and sit awhile here with me, and we will talk. When an
uncle or a grandfather comes, people always stop work and talk with
their relative."
The brothers made no answer; kept on at their work; paid no heed to
Sedit.
"Grandsons," said he again, "stop awhile; come and talk with me; tell
me what you are doing. I want to learn, come and tell me what you
know; rest awhile. I might tell you something better than what you
know. Perhaps you think, grandsons, that I don't know anything. Come
and sit down and I will tell you something wise. If you don't come, I
will spoil your work. I will destroy what you are doing."
When the two brothers heard this, they were frightened; they thought
that he might injure their work, and they came. When they reached the
ground and walked up to Sedit, they asked,--
"Which way did you come, grandfather? Where do you live?"
"My grandsons," said Sedit, "I came from a place not very far from
this. I was walking around to see if I could see something. I heard
people talking last night about you. They said that you were making a
road, and I thought that I would come here to look at your work, and
talk to you."
"Very well," said the brothers. "This work which we are doing is not
for us. It is for others. Perhaps you think this work is for us; it is
not, it is done at command of another. This work is for Olelbis.
Olelbis sent us down here to make this great road."
"What!" cried Sedit, "are you working for Olelbis? Did he send you
down here to do this? Did he tell you to make this road, and have you
come here to make it for him, my grandsons? Do you believe what
Olelbis says to you? Do you believe what he says to other people? Do
you mind him and work for him? I don't believe in Olelbis. I don't
believe what he says, I don't care for what he says."
"My grandfather," said the elder Hus, "hold on, stop talking. I don't
like to hear you say such words, I don't like to hear you talk in that
way. I am going to tell you why all this work is done, why this road
is made. I have told you nothing."
Sedit sat down and said: "Well, tell me. I am glad to hear what you
say. I am glad to hear why you are making this road."
The elder brother began: "Olelbis says that a new people will come on
this earth soon, that they will live and go around, and after a while
they will grow old. When very old, they will come to this road to go
to Olelpanti and be young again. When half-way up, it will be evening.
They will drink water from a spring and pass the night there. Next
day they will go on, and be at the end of the road in the
evening,--they will be in Olelpanti, where Olelbis lives. They will
find water there. They will drink from one spring and bathe in the
water of another. When they come out, they will be young. Next day
they will come down half-way, drink of the water, stay one night, then
come to the earth, and be young and fresh as they were at first.
"No man will have a wife, no woman a husband. They will be to one
another as brothers and sisters. That is what Olelbis wishes, and
because he wishes it he has sent us to make this road. When the road
is built to Olelpanti, where Olelbis lives, these trees around here,
which are small now, will be large. They will grow up and be very
tall. They will have no limbs except those near the top, where
branches will run out. On those branches acorns will come, and the
acorns will have no shells on them. They will be all ready and fit to
eat. The people who are to come out of the earth will not be able to
climb these trees, and they will have no need to climb, for the acorns
will fall, and the people will pick them up and have plenty of food
without work, without trouble."
Sedit listened and looked at the elder Hus brother. Then he turned to
the younger Hus and said sneeringly,--
"Hu! Do you believe all that? Do you think that every word is true
which Olelbis says? Do you think it is wise? Do you think it is good?
Now, my grandsons, you wait awhile, and I will tell you something. You
ought to know that an old man like me has words to speak,--that he
knows something wise. I have something to tell you which is better
than all this. I will tell you what it is. I will tell you now.
Suppose an old man goes up this road all alone, drinks from one
spring, bathes in the other, and comes down young. He will be all
alone just as he was when he went up."
"Suppose an old woman and an old man go up, go alone, one after the
other, and come back alone, young. They will be alone as before, and
will grow old a second time, and go up again and come back young, but
they will be alone, just the same as at first. They will have nothing
on earth to be glad about. They will never have any friends, any
children; they will never have any fun in the world; they will never
have anything to do but to go up this road old and come back down
young again.
"Now, my grandsons, I will tell you something better, and you will
like what I tell you. I like it because it is good. I am going to say
something wiser than anything Olelbis has told you yet. It will be
better, very much better if trees have limbs to the ground, and if
acorns have husks and shells on them. When trees have limbs to the
ground, a man can climb them, take a long stick in his hand, and knock
acorns to the ground. Others will come under the tree and gather them.
When the acorns fall, women will jump and say, 'Oh! oh!' and laugh and
talk and be glad and feel well. I think that is better. People can
take the acorns home and put them on the ground. Then they will say,
'Come, let us husk these acorns.' Men and women will go and sit down
and husk the acorns. When they are doing this, they will throw husks
back and forth at each other. They will have fun and laugh and be
pleased and feel well. I think that this is better; I know that you
will like it.
"Besides, what are people to eat if nothing dies? Deer will not die,
fish will not die; the coming people cannot kill them. What are they
to eat? They will have nothing to eat except acorns.
"I think it is better for women and men--young men and young women--to
marry, live day and night with each other. When they get up in the
morning, the man will work for the woman, the woman will work for the
man, and they will help each other. I think that the better way. If a
man has a wife, he will catch fish and kill deer, he will bring them
in, and give them to his wife to cook. She will cook them, and both
will eat. I think that is the right way. If people live in this
manner, and a woman has a child, her neighbors will say, 'There is a
nice baby over there,' and they will go to see it, and will say, 'What
a nice baby that woman has!' I think this is better than anything
Olelbis told you.
"When that baby grows up and another baby grows up, they will be a man
and a woman, and the two will get married and have children
themselves, and in that way there will be plenty of people always; new
people, young people. When a man grows old, he will die; when a woman
grows old, she will die. When they die, others will go around and tell
their neighbors about it, and say, 'A woman died over there,' or 'A
man died over here. They will bury him to-morrow.' Then all the
people will make ready to help the relatives of the dead man; they
will cry, the dead man's relatives will cry and mourn. I think this is
better. When a man dies, his nearest relatives will cut their hair
very close, paint the face black; and when people see one of them
coming or going, they will say, 'His father is dead,' or 'His wife is
dead,' or 'His mother is dead,' and they will talk about that man and
his dead father, or dead mother, or dead wife, and say, 'Poor man, he
has lost his father, or his mother, or his wife.' I think this is
better.
"When an old woman dies, she will leave a daughter, and that daughter
will have a daughter, or an old man dies, he will leave a son, and
that son will have a son. As men and women grow old, they will die,
and their places will be taken by young people. I think this is the
right way. I think this is the best way. All living things should go
this way,--all should grow old and then die. When the new people come
on this earth, they ought to go this way. When those people come and
live all around on this earth, they will die in many ways,--they will
fight with each other and die; when trees grow old, they will die and
fall down; everything will die in like manner.
"When a man dies, his friends will put mempak on him, like this which
I have around my neck, and an otter-skin band around his head, and
give him a quiver, dress him, and then put him in the ground. When a
man goes to some place, a grizzly bear may catch and kill him, or a
rattlesnake will bite and kill him, and when people fight they will
use flint and kill one another. People will get angry and fight. When
there is a gathering, somebody will come running in and say, 'People
over there are fighting.' Those inside will hurry to see, and will
find a man killed, and say, 'A good man is killed;' then they will
punish the others for killing him."
The two brothers sat there, made no answer.
"Well, my grandsons," continued Sedit, "I know that what I tell you is
right. What do you think?"
The brothers said nothing at first. They thought and thought. After a
while the elder looked at Sedit and said,--
"I think what you say is better. I think that it is right. I suppose
it is true. I believe that you are old enough and ought to know. I
think that you are right."
"Grandfather," said the younger brother, "would you like to die, too,
the same as others, and be lying in the ground and not rise any more;
never go around with an otter-skin band on your head, and a beautiful
quiver at your back, and fine things such as you are wearing to-day?
You want others to die; you want death in the world. What would you
say if you had to die yourself? You want all the coming people to die,
and all living things hereafter to die and be gone from here. Olelbis
does not want any one to die, but you want all living things on this
earth to die. You want to spoil all the work which Olelbis sent us
down here to do."
When the younger brother said this, the two stood up and walked off a
little way, and Sedit said,--
"My grandsons, come back, come back. We have not finished talking yet.
We must talk more. We will talk this all over again. Come back, my
grandsons, come back."
But the two brothers did not turn back; they walked on, walked toward
the east always--said nothing. After a time they turned and went to
where their road was. They pulled out some great stones, and the whole
road fell to the ground.
The two brothers flew up then, circling around for a while. They went
higher and higher, till at last they disappeared and went to
Olelpanti.
Sedit saw them fly up, watched them till they disappeared. He stood
looking around for a long time. At last he said,--
"What am I to do now? I wish I had not said all that, I wish I had not
said so much. I wish I had not said anything."
He stood around there and kept repeating: "What am I to do now? I am
sorry. Why did I talk so much? Hus asked me if I wanted to die. He
said that all on earth here will have to die now. That is what Hus
said. I don't know what to do. What can I do?"
He looked around and found a plant with long, broad leaves, the wild
sunflower. He found this plant in great plenty, and took many leaves
from it. He pulled off all his fine clothes, threw them aside, then
stuck the leaves into his body, all the way up and down his legs,
body, and arms, and said,--
"Now I will go up to Olelpanti. I am not going to stay down here
where people die. I am going up to the place where the Hus brothers
went."
He made a tail of leaves; then he rose and flew around and around,
rose pretty high; the leaves began to get dry and break one after
another. After a while Sedit, whirling round and round, came down with
great force, struck the ground, and was crushed to pieces.